Street roots
OcL 26, 2012
The Woman in the Pink Knitted Cap
By Tricia Knoll
She spent five arctic nights
in a woman’s shelter, but creatures sniffling
on cranky cots, overloaded
her, a male guard at the gate.
With the warm blow-in of southern rains,
she moved to a nook in her one dry place.
She’s a wrung-out sponge, blotting up damp
in sweatshirts, tights, stretch pants,
one too-small jacket and the church-lady-knitted cap.
Relentless hours of hard rain erode
her gut-starch and her cross is choking tight.
The Harvest of Halloween
By Dennis Kennith Rollins
The deeper the heart,
The easier it is to fall apart.
In vein, it will always be the same.
Two titles given, means another one shared.
One palm on the handle of her cart
keeps her from flowing.
Her fingerless glove swipes
a dripping nostril. Her tongue plugs
emptiness where a fist blew out a canine tooth.
If you were to share another day fair,
The way is found
The entrance is open
For the passage is dear as time is near.
Keep body and soul pasted together,
each wanders like her gray kitten.
She refuses to look at street kids’
brindled pit bulls.
What she cannot see will not bite.
She whispers to good people she once knew
and argues with the bad.
Two hearts open,
The way is clear.
Time for the occasion
Deep is the setting, clear to the view.
Time for harvest; time to scare.
Halloween is coming
Do beware
Giving, sharing, time indeed
Mummy, clowns, wolves, indeed
Time at hand, two words go on, indeed
Happy Halloween for you and me.
When sleep knocks her down, her night hag tiptoes
in, reigning hostess in a teetering house.
Both seldom know where the bathroom is,
never stare out windows a n d f e a r
that every shaky roof must fall.
She hears hag stories of lost sisters.
Now and then they trade clothes.
When morning comes, night hag hovers
behind her left shoulder, a burden-crushing fog
hangover of buzzing street light nights.
She hums and No One, day stalker,
always hears.
Answers on page 6
By Kara Dimitruk
Sudoku
Crossword
Across
1. Way out
7. New York baseball player
10. Pro follower
14. It’s also known as the
splenic artery
15. A Sandy Koufax stat
16. Crude group?
17. Not done with purpose or
intent
19. Isn’t wrong?
20. “Give it ___I”
21. Second-stringer
22. A type of tea, with lemon
23. Phil Mickelson may use one
24. Nay’s opposite
25. It’s a free country?
27. Carnaval site
28. While lead-in
30. Stun gun
32. Debtor’s note
33. Pesto base
36. Yielding
38. 22-Down and 33-Across can
be found here
41. Another name fora
38-Down
42. Legislate
43. Take the gold
44. Like some gases
46. Heidi’s home
50. Mount Hood output
51. Summer shade
52. An end to sex?
55.100%
56.1989 film with Denzel
Washington
58. A territory ruled by a
duchess
60. Calendar square
61. “Holy___I”
62. A harm or injury
64. It’s used in fencing
65. Hail, to Caesar
66. Wears away
67. Loch___monster
68. Fourposter, e.g.
9
5 7
T Tl
8 1
9 3
3
6 3 9
2J
p
5
6
TT
1 '
69. Foil
Down
1. To find a solution, in organic
chemistry
2. Flavors beers and cookies
3. Repaints a room, say
4. Bend-to-Walla Walla dir.
5. Smart-mouthed
6. Order one to-go
7. Waiter’s offering
8. Mount______
9. Wee bit
10. Crowd sound
11. Relating to bees or
beekeeping
12. They may be rising with the
election
13. To perform Hamlet’s
soliloquy
18. Free
22. Used to ward off vampires
26. Nasal dividers
29. Traumatic Brain Injury
Rehab, inits.
31 Rehem
34. Keenness in perception
35. Medicinal plant
37. Itty-bitty bit
38. Bunny or Black Diamond,
e.g.
39. They may be left to hem
40. Monkey business
41. They traveled rural Australia
on foot
45. Salad leaf
47. Brown Eyed Girl lyric, with
“Sha”
48. A county in the Sacramento
Valley
49. Least ingenuous
53. Sleep on it
54. Gift of the Magi
57. Some whiskeys
59. Like some books in Powell’s
62. Apply gently
63. “I do,” for one
The objective of Sudoku is to fill in all the blank squares with the
correct numbers, from 1 to 9. Every row, column and square must
include all digits, 1 through 9, in any order.
Office Cat Rooty sends a big
thank you to the groovy
organizations and
businesses who donated
their time and wares for our
online auction! Together, we
build a great community!